1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to mild cleaning preparations, more particularly for the washing or rinsing of hair.
2. Statement of Related Art
To obtain a cleaning effect, water-containing cleaning preparations normally contain surface-active compounds which generally increase the effect of the preparation on the skin. This applies in particular to the important class of anionic surfactants.
This increased effect on the skin should be avoided in the case of personal hygiene preparations. High skin compatibility is particularly important in the case of products which are designed for frequent use, which are used for washing intimate parts of the body or which come into contact with mucosa. Accordingly, there is a constant need for mild water-containing cleaning preparations with high foaming power.
Preparations for washing or rinsing hair, for example shampoos and hair treatment preparations removable by rinsing, are of particular interest in the field of water-based cleaning preparations. In particular, there is a constant need for preparations which have an improved effect in regard to the fullness and stylability of hair.
The hair is often in a cosmetically unsatisfactory state after washing. It feels dull, is difficult to comb when wet and tends to develop static charges when dry which makes it difficult to comb and affects the set of the hair after combing.
It is known that zwitterionic polymers containing anionic groups, generally carboxyl groups, and quaternary ammonium groups in the molecule can be used in hair treatment preparations. For example, DE-OS-21 50 557 describes the use of polymers of zwitterionic monomers in hair setting preparations. However, zwitterionic polymers are attended by the disadvantage, particularly in formulations containing anionic surfactants, that the hair-conditioning and hair-setting properties are gradually lost in the event of prolonged storage.
DE-OS-33 26 230 describes water-containing preparations for the washing and rinsing of hair which are said to improve the fullness and stylability of the hair through the presence of special polyaldehydocarboxylic acids.
It is also known that conditioning preparations, generally based on cationic surfactants, can be applied to the hair after washing or shampooing and that conditioners can be added to shampoos in order to obtain a certain conditioning effect when the hair is washed. Substances such as these include, for example, cationic polymers, for example cationic cellulose derivatives. European patent application EP 337 354 describes preparations containing a combination of alkyl glycosides and a cationic polymer.
Although it is possible with auxiliaries such as these to obtain a satisfactory improvement in wet combability and, for example with cationic surfactants, a reduction in static charging, these effects are almost always accompanied by excessive smoothing of the dry hair. This gives rise to the disadvantage that the hair lacks fullness and is unable to hold styles. The smoothness of the hair is more pronounced, the lower the combing resistance of the dry hair.
Accordingly, the problem addressed by the present invention was to provide water-containing cleaning preparations, more particularly for the washing and rinsing of hair, which would combine high foaming power with a minimal effect on the skin and which would significantly reduce the smoothness of dry hair without making the hair tacky and without any adverse effect on its wet combability.